A known wheel assembly includes a split rim upon which an inflatable tire carcass is mounted. In order to protect the tire carcass when the wheel assembly is used in harsh environments, an endless track assembly is mounted on the outside of the tire carcass. The endless track assembly includes a mounting belt which extends around the tire carcass and track shoes which are disposed on the outside of the mounting belt. The track shoes are held in place on the mounting belt by retainer bars or members which are secured to the track shoes by fastener assemblies. A wheel assembly having this general construction is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,393.
During use of the previously described wheel assembly, difficulty may be encountered due to loosening and/or breaking of the fastener assemblies which secure the shoe members to the retainer members. Loosening and/or breaking of the fastener assembly is promoted by the fact that relatively high shear forces are present between the retainer member and shoe member. The relatively high shear forces result from the fact that the shoe member engages the ground or other support surface while the retainer member is held in place on the tire carcass. This construction results in the transmission of drive forces through the fastener assembly interconnecting the retainer and shoe members.
In order to prevent loosening and/or breaking of the fastener assembly, holes have been accurately located and drilled to a predetermined size in both the retainer member and the shoe member. Even though attempts have been made to locate these holes in both the shoe and retainer members with an accuracy of a thousandth of an inch in an overall shoe and retainer length of approximately 40 inches, difficulty has been encountered. In part, this difficulty results from a loosening of the fastener assembly due to tolerances in the hole size and/or hole location in the retainer and shoe members.